Music Picks Feb. 21-27 | Live: Wendy Ohlwiler, Cannonball Coltrane Project, Salty Crickets, Men, DJ Dao 

Friday 2.22
Harlem Gospel Choir (Kingsbury Hall); Johan The Angel, The Canoe, Paul Jacobsen, Chaz Prymek (Kilby Court); Patty Larkin (Holladay UCC); Blaze Ya Dead Homie (Avalon Theater); GhastlyHatchling, CloudKiva, NightTerror (Red Light Books); The Furs (Under the Bridge Lounge); Michael Dean Damron (Bar Deluxe—see Music); Great American Rock & Roll Show (Harry O’s, Park City); Legendary Porch Pounders (Brewskis, Ogden); Local Indie/Rock Battle of the Bands (Club NVO, Logan); A Film in the Ballroom, Code Hero, Marcus Bently (Velour, Provo)

Saturday 2.23
WENDY OHLWILER CD RELEASE
If a mix tape can truly “save your life,” or if one song can truly “change your life” as some have posited, imagine the possibilities of not just listening to but actually performing such affective music. If that’s difficult to imagine, just ask Wendy Ohlwiler. The Utah-based singer/songwriter recently sang onstage with Magnolia Electric Company alongside her all-time favorite musician Jason Molina. Talk about shock and awe! As Ohlwiler puts it, the experience was “the best thing that ever happened to me.” No kidding. And, as it turns out, Molina was not just an idol but a muse! Ohlwiler spent the following five relatively sleepless nights committing the experience to memory, pen, paper and CD. The result is Listen to the Wind, a five-track EP of hushed, haunting acoustic melodies recorded before the ink was dry. Raw, spare, beautiful and honest, this album might just change your life. At least, for a little while. Slowtrain, 221 E. Broadway, 8 p.m. All-ages. Info: 364-2611 (with Dead Horse Point and Wuhu’ Seai)

CANNONBALL COLTRANE PROJECT
There’s no one way to form a tribute band or cover an artist’s original material. From Cat Power’s recent soulful take on Sinatra and Hell’s Belles’ femme-fatale versions of AC/DC hits to somewhat more radical nods to the classics (see: Dirty Projectors’ interpretation of Black Flag’s seminal punk album Rise Above), Cannonball Coltrane Project fall somewhere between straightforward homage and severe revision with their tribute to legendary jazz heavyweights Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane. Jazz bassist Luther Hughes launched the quintet to rather loosely re-create a 1959 recording—the only album featuring both Cannonball and Coltrane. The rest of CCP’s repertoire picks up where the tribute’s subjects left off, using their individual career highlights as a jumping-off point for original arrangements. Grand Theatre, 1575 S. State, 7:30 p.m. All-ages. Tickets: 278-0411

SALTY CRICKET COMPOSERS COLLECTIVE
What does “New Music” mean to you? For some, it’s “New Music Tuesday,” when highly anticipated albums arrive in stores. For others, “new” is simply “previously unheard sounds.” Salty Cricket Composers Collective leans toward the latter definition, with an emphasis on contemporary classical music. The ambitious young group aims to “enrich Utah’s cultural life” by providing an alternative to more prevalent genres and scenes (i.e. bar bands, all-ages punk shows, coffee-shop acoustic acts, etc). Its mission is diverse, as evidenced by tonight’s inaugural concert featuring a wide range of works (including a musical about German boxer Max Schmeling) by local composers Crystal-Young Otterstrom, M. Ryan Taylor, Christian Asplund, Rick Mortensen, Gary Gerber, UBA and Rebecca Dawn. Intrigued? The Pickle Company, 741 S. 400 West, 8 p.m. All-ages. Info: 450-8977

• Also Saturday: Tragic Black, The Brobecks (Kilby Court); Sia (Avalon Theater); The Willkills, The Upstarts, Pass-A-Fist (Red Light Books); Slippery Kittens Burlesque (Bar Deluxe); Ulysses (Brewskis, Ogden)

Monday 2.25
DJ DAO
With corporate radio primarily focused on mainstream artists and community radio in flux, listeners have fewer places to turn to on the FM dial for sounds from the underground. DJ Dao feels their pain. As a part of U92’s UCrew, Dao is able to play only a fraction of material by independent hip-hop artists whom he considers deserving of widespread attention. That’s why he doubled his workload, spinning super underground mixes on the side. Tonight, he’ll celebrate the release of his new mixtape with performances by Brisk Oner, Lump Sum, Den of the Flow, Soul Shakers and Gruv Nation, plus Dao, DJ Handsome Hands, DJ E-Flexx and DJ Chassis on turntables. Price of entry gets you an album, so what are you waiting for? Get low! The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 10 p.m.

• Also Monday: 311 (The Depot); Hot Buttered Rum String Band, The Waybacks (Paladium)

Tuesday 2.26
James Belliston, The Precinct, Egg & Dart, Mommy’s Got a Brand New Liver (Kilby Court); Goatwhore, Gaza, Xur (Burt’s Tiki Lounge); Kosha Dillz (Monk’s)

Wednesday 2.27
Mahjongg, Calvin Johnson, Vile Blue Shades (Kilby Court); Emma Kill (Red Light Books); Built to Spill, The Meat Puppets (The Depot); Sole, Telephone Jim Jesus, Sinthesis (Urban Lounge); Psychostick (Burt’s Tiki Lounge); Bless the Fall (Club NVO, Logan)

Coming Up
L.A. Guns (Club Vegas, Feb. 28); Bone, Thugs & Harmony (Great Saltair, Feb. 28); Bobby Valentino (Harry O’s, Feb. 29); Pseudo Recordings Showcase: Andale!, Cavedoll, Cub Country (Urban Lounge, Feb. 29); Top Dead Celebrity CD Release (Broken Record, Feb. 29); The Supersuckers (Bar Deluxe, March 1); Gregory Isaacs (Paladium, March 1); This Will Destroy You (Kilby Court, March 2); Lifehouse (The Depot, March 3); Clutch (The Depot, March 4); Banyan (Paladium, March 5); W.A.S.P. (Club Vegas, March 5)